Latin American aviation is, above all things, an amusing topic to follow. To say it is unpredictable is an understatement. While we are still trying to keep track of the Colombian fast changing market after Viva Air and Ultra Air (hint: only thing that ever worked with the word «Air» in its name are the Jordans), Venezuela felt a bit jealous and gifted us a story to remember.
Flashback to June, 2022. An Emtrasur’s Boeing 747-300M bound to Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza Airport got deviated to Cordoba due to a heavy fog. As true rara avis, a couple of our folks based in Cordoba city ran to the airport to see it and take images of it.
That Monday, the only story surrounding that Jumbo was its uniqueness: a -300, combi, with Venezuelan registration and previously owned by Iran’s Mahan Air. Curiosity born by weather. By Saturday of that same week, all hell broke loose.
The Big Airplane that Couldn’t (Leave Argentina)
It turned out that the aircraft wanted to depart Argentina but no airport service was willing to provide assistance to it, as US sanctions were certain. The 747 tried to reach Uruguay but authorities denied the overflight and landing in Montevideo. The plane returned to Ezeiza and got detained on arrival along with its 14-member crew, with a nice and not-suspicious-at-all multicultural mixture of Venezuelan and Iranian airmen.
Some of the Iranians had a debatable record, with alleged evidence of some unholy activity, and were conveniently missing from the passenger manifest. Go figure. All crew was arrested and got released a few weeks later, but the aircraft wasn’t that lucky.
For Venezuela, this was a big deal. President Maduro demanded a swift and decisive action from the Argentinian government: «They intend to steal from us an airplane owned by Venezuela, legally owned by Venezuela, in Argentina by mandate of an imperial court,» Maduro said on August 2022, just two months after the incident.
«Venezuela raises its protest and asks the Argentine people for all their support to recover that airplane. Now they intend to steal our plane too, as they stole the gold in London or intend to steal the gold in London,» added Maduro, referring to the Bank of England’s refusal to allow the country to control 1.9 billion dollars in gold deposited there by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV).
Long story short: the Jumbo remains at Ezeiza today, impounded by US Justice and waiting for it to be seized. Just a week ago its engines were started as part of regular maintenance actions, after months of sitting in a retired area of the airport, away from curious and judgemental looks.
Operation Payback: Soccer is Religion
Flashforward to April, 2023. There are two major Soccer South American competitions: the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana. I won’t take the opportunity to extend myself describing the differences but a parallel can be drawn with the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League, as they are sub-continental tournaments for which teams qualify to one or the other by reaching different positions in their national leagues. There, that’s all you need to know by now. Moving on.
As there is an initial group stage in which strict rules to avoid teams of the same country to be a part of the same group, teams need to travel a lot throughout South America to play against group rivals.
Thus, this week alone Argentinian teams accrued some miles: River Plate flew to Bolivia, Racing Club traveled to Paraguay and San Lorenzo and Boca were bound to Venezuela to play against two local teams: Estudiantes de Mérida and Monagas, respectively.
An Aerolíneas Argentinas’ Boeing 737 MAX, with registration LV-KEJ, departed Buenos Aires with San Lorenzo’s players to reach Caracas and then Mérida, even though El Vigía airport is not certified to receive a 737. Go figure #2.
When news of an Aerolíneas Argentinas’ plane -technically the aircraft belongs to Air Lease Corporation, but conspiracists rarely checks fine print- was set to arrive to Venezuela, some hard-core Chavez-regime supporters demanded for action: they wanted the aircraft to be seized.
«Holding that aircraft until Emtrasur’s 747 is returned to us wouldn’t be such a bad idea» wrote one of them on social media. Hundreds of messages followed suit, asking for the aircraft to be impounded as retaliation.
«Hold that plane until they return ours» said another hardliner, directly addressing both Maduro and Diosdado Cabello, former interim president, vice president, minister and current member of the Venezuelan House of Representatives.
But, despite the desire of some loyalists, Venezuela won’t take action on the aircraft that arrived into Venezuela on April 3 and returned on April 5. Another 737 MAX, with registration LV-HKU, transported Boca team on the morning of April 5 and will get the players back to Argentina on April 6.
Company sources said that operation of the flights were «normal», and that they expect no action on the matter. Once that second plane is back on Argentina, the idea of a weird lex talionis will fade away and disappear into the fog. As that big Venezuelan-Iranian Boeing 747 would have wanted to.
